Train attacks may have been plot fior 10th anniversary of 9/11

Records seized during the commando raid that ended Osama Bin Laden's life in Pakistan may have inidcated that there was low-level planning of train attacks in the U.S. during the 10th anniversary of 9/11. Records indicated either derailing the train at a bridge or valley, or attacking a major transit hub. Plotting went back as far as Feburary 2010 but little progress seems to be made on the plot itself. The team that assaulted Bin Laden's compound found over 100 hundred electronic devices, 10 hard drives, and 5 computers that are being analyzed now.

Bad News and Real Life

Sorry for the lack of a poster yesterday, guys. Real life has spilled over to my blog, I just got laid off from my job and I've been doing a bunch of stuff meantime like filing for unemployment and looking for gainful employment. I'll post another blog today to compensate. The spot of good news is that I think I'm gonna get hired at Home Depot and I've got a part-time gig as a Bar Runner at a local bar so hopefully things will pan out. Thanks for understanding.

Mercenaries Operating in Libya

While not particularly of the newest brand of news I recently came across a few videos of mercenaries under the employ of Gaddafi to fight the rebels throughout the country. The majority of the mercenaries seem to spring from fellow African nations such as Algiers and Chad but there are reports of several hundred European mercenaries from Poland, Greece, Serbia, Croatia, and even the United Kingdom being employed with a higher skill set. Naturally this poses a problem for the country as one most often imagines these forces are used to root out the rebels from the populace which inadvertently leads to crimes being committed. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has begun formal investigations into the claims of war crimes being committed by hired soldiers of fortune but it is unlikely that much will happen till the dust settles. It is known that locals are taking violence to the mercenaries whenever possible as shown by a recent video posted showing the execution of two Chadian mercenaries by a group of protesters. There are other reports that European mercenaries are being used in specialist roles such as advisers to the regime in Tripoli and helicopter pilots to ferry Gaddafi's forces around the country. This spot is worth watching further as updates make their way out of the warzone.

Book Review: "A Problem From Hell" - America and the Age of Genocide

"A Problem From Hell"
America and the Age of Genocide
Author: Samantha Power
Published: 2003
Pages: 503 pages (Up to 603 with acknowledgments)

I want to today's post to be a little different but ultimately critical to the conversation of security in today's growing global community. This is my book review of "A Problem From Hell" which is a book that puts a human face on the unrepentantly evil act of genocide. Many people think of the Holocaust as an act of genocide and surely it is but there are have been tradgeies that have rivalled its scope and scale and even surpassed in some cases. The book begins in a first person narrative by Powers describing genocide in Bosnia and provides a first hand account of it from her experiences there. However as the book progresses it shifts to a third person narrative detailing back to the Armenian Genocide, Holocaust, Raphael Lemkin's fight to have the word "genocide" adopted, through the Cold War which experiences Cambodia and Iraq, and finally through to the end of the 20th century and the genocides of Bosnia, Kosovo, and Rwanda. It looks at America, arguably the most powerful nation's inability, unwillingness, and ignorance on the facts of genocide. This book is deeply harshly and critical of the U.S. government but with merit, and it provides a bleak understanding of genocide on a very personal level. It also enables the reader to truly experience the horror, confusion, and sadness of those affected by genocide. This book isn't perfect, it very much pulls at the readers' heartstrings and more importantly omits some facts but it does not lose its impact because of this, I highly recommend this book to those who wish to understand that Holocaust is not the only way genocides are committed, that they are still being committed today in our lifetimes, and that we are capable of halting them if we show the inclination do so. Genocide threatens the very fabric of the international community and its existence is a repudiation of all things civil and decent in this world.

4/5 Stars.

In-Depth Analysis: Osama Bin Laden

On Sunday, May 1st, 2011, two helicopters with a full complement of U.S. Special Forces (Navy SEALs) engaged in combat with forces at Abottabad, a popular retirement community for Pakistani military personnel as well as housing a large Pakistani military base and military academy. Several people were killed including Osama Bin Laden and a woman who was used as a human shield. Special Forces personnel were on site for roughly 40 minutes before departing. One helicopter was lost due to mechanical failure and no U.S. personnel lost their lives. This in turn holds several problematic events for the Pakistani government which up until now had flatly denied knowledge of Osama Bin Laden's whereabouts especially when his compound was less than a third of a mile away from the military academy. This has lead many to suspect that Al-Qaeda has operations in the area. The impact of his death is a double blow for the terrorist organization. Firstly, it denies the narrative that they set that the way to regain Arab honor is to shed blood and secondly casts doubt with the bloom of the Arab Spring.* Ultimately it does little in the way of actual results, the war on terror continues and the wars being fought in Iraq and Afghanistan must continue to their conclusions. However this sets the important example that those who engage in terrorist activities upon the United States will eventually be caught, no matter how the wait. The body of Osama Bin Laden was disposed at sea shortly after his death, this was decided upon by U.S. officials to largely deny followers a shrine in which to attend.

* = Arab Spring refers to the "blossoming" of democratic reforms in Middle East following the invasion of Iraq, this has proven problematic because these upheavals are largely disconnected and unrelated aside from ideological inspiration.

Intoductions & The Death of Osama Bin Laden

Welcome to ARGUS Security Analysis, the purpose of this blog is to analyze current security trends and hopefully show my readers important trends happening in our world. I'm a security student studying at a fairly reputable private university in Arizona, and hopefully as I grow into my field, this blog will grow with it. Yesterday we saw the death of one of the most wanted men in the world at the hands of U.S. Special Forces, I plan to do a detailed write up of the following later today or tomorrow. So allow me to thank you for viewing and I hope you stick around.

-M.S.